From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nt4bodGQTtg

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

good evening everybody

thank you very much for coming to this

talk drew asked us if we would do this

and and venerable agreed and it's really

my privilege to introduce them to you I

have been my name is sister camo and I'm

an American nun I'm from the American

Buddhists [ __ ] tradition which is

probably new to your ears but America

now has a senior-level monk who is

willing to start a tradition in the

United States so I'm the first nun and

it's a pleasure to work with

venerable in what his kind of new

adventurous Buddhism is going through

some changes and everything does that

and there's many many traditions in the

United States and one of the things

that's being passed around a little bit

as this little book if you hold it up

for just a second that is from the

Buddhist world summit and he's been

nominated and then confirmed as the

first representative for the United

States to ever have a representative for

Buddhism at a world Buddhist Council in

Asia so this is kind of a privilege and

their goal is to retrace and try to

reclaim the original Buddhist practice

so it kind of makes sense that they came

and found him in the forest in Missouri

and he had no idea they were going to do

this and asked him if he would do this

and the reason it makes sense is because

he spent 12 years in Asia trying to

figure out what the Buddha did and then

he decided after being offered several

different -

is over there that he would come back

here and stay in the United States

because Americans deserved to be able to

have a experience in Buddhism without

cultural inflections in the Buddhism and

to learn it completely in English and so

that's what's being attempted

how many people have been meditating

before this

there's basically two different kinds of

meditation that are being taught in the

world today one kind of meditation

probably 99.5 percent of all the people

that are practicing and are practicing

this particular kind of meditation and I

call this kind of meditation one pointed

concentration what I just showed you was

the other kind of meditation and this

kind of meditation is called a tranquil

wisdom type of meditation there isn't

much difference between one kind of

meditation and another

the difference between the one pointed

concentration that probably all of you

have practiced in the past and what I

just showed you is that one extra step

of relaxing that changes the entire

meditation

it's a real important step to put into

your practice now I have another

question for you you've been meditating

why why humidity

did you interact it is interactive yeah

why meditate what's the big deal

pieces

being pretty piece into your life why

else

there's no matter what

enjoy the absence

those are one pointed concentration

answers

and which oneself

okay

let me give you a definition of

meditation and see how it flies

meditation is watching how Minds

attention moves from one thing to

another and seeing that everything that

arises is part of an impersonal process

sounds like a lot what do I mean by an

impersonal process you were sitting and

your mind was on your object of

meditation and you had a thought did you

ask that thought to come up does that

talk yours do you see it's impersonal

everything that arises is part of an

impersonal process every feeling that

arises every thought that arises

everything that pulls your mind away

from what you're doing isn't it part of

an impersonal process that we mostly

take as being personal and that's the

cause of suffering why is it the cause

of suffering you have a pain in your

knee okay did you ask that pain to come

up did you say I haven't had this pain

for a long time it's about time for it

to arise now no it came up because the

conditions are right for the pain to

arise what you do with what arises in

the present moment dictates what happens

in the future karma you have a choice of

what you do with these things now in the

instructions in the meditation I said

when a sensation arises you first start

thinking about the feeling

now we're made up of five different

things the psychophysical process is

five different things we have a physical

body we have a feeling da is not emotion

feeling is feeling feeling is pleasant

or painful or neither painful nor

pleasant that's all feeling it we have

perception perception is the part of the

mind that names things you see this your

mind says cut part of your mind that

said that is perception you have

thoughts and you have consciousness now

this feeling that arises in your knee

when it happens the first thing you do

is you try to think the feeling and the

more you get involved with the thoughts

about the feeling the bigger and more

intense the feeling becomes and the more

you're taking that feeling personally I

don't like this I want it to stop I want

it to go away so the first thing we have

to do is let go of our thinking about

the feeling now this is emotional too it

doesn't matter whether it's a feeling in

your knee or sadness or anxiety or

depression or fear or anger it doesn't

matter you treat it all in the same way

the first thing that arises is a painful

feeling and as soon as that painful

feeling arises our habit is to try to

think the feeling away but thoughts are

one thing and feelings are something

else the two never meet so the first

thing we have to do is learn to let go

of the thoughts every time mine

tension moves their cut there is a

tension or tightness that arises in our

head now you you're all pre-med students

you know what the brain is like you have

a membrane around your brain and what

happens every time your attention moves

from one thing to another is it

contracts a little bit there is a

tension and tightness so part of the

instructions is to let go of that

tension and tightness in your physical

body and around your brain and when you

let go of that physical tightness you

let go of the mental tightness at the

same time mind and body are

interconnected so you let go of that

that whatever distraction there is you

let go of the thinking about it and

relax now you have a clear space this

clear space your mind is very bright

your mind is very alert and agile you're

able to see when your mind starts to get

heavy you bring this clear mind this

pure mind to your object of meditation

what's your object to meditation for

loving-kindness it's a feeling of loving

kindness and then feeling the wish and

then sending that wish to someone else

so everytime a thought arises there's

tension and tightness that arises right

along with it or actually right before

it in order to see you have to have good

working hi there has to be color and

form good working I it's color and form

eye-consciousness arises the meeting of

the good working I the color inform and

I consciousness is called eye contact

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises I feeling is pleasant or painful

or neither painful nor pleasant with I

feeling as condition I craving arises

what is craving craving always manifests

as tension and tightness in your mind

and in your body Oh

the craving is the beginning of the idea

of I am that I am my eyes I am my sight

it's the I like it I don't like it mind

if it's a pleasant feeling I like it I

want to hold on to it if it's an

unpleasant feeling oh I don't like it I

want to push it away with I craving as

condition flinging arises clinging is

all of your thoughts all of your

opinions all of your concepts all of

your ideas all of your stories about why

you like or dislike that feeling then

you have your habitual tendency every

time this feeling arises I always act in

that way what the meditation teaches you

is how to recognize this process as

process its impersonal one of the things

that really gets an awful lot of

Westerners angry when I tell them this

is all mine everybody's mind works in

exactly the same way oh no that can't be

right

get that it doesn't matter whether

you're an Easterner if you're from Asia

if you're from Europe if you're from

Africa if you're from America

everybody's mind works in the same way

there's the physical sense door there's

the striking of the physical sense door

with the eye it's the color inform eye

consciousness arises meeting of these

three things is called eye contact it's

the same for everybody

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises with I feeling as condition

craving arises with craving as condition

clinging arises with pinging as

condition your habitual tendency arises

everybody's mind works the same way and

we have a choice when your mind gets

distracted it gets distracted by

thoughts you have the choice to either

let go of that and relax into it or not

some people they start meditating and

they get these great thoughts and they

think hi I got to carry this one through

you don't need to you can put a little

red flag and say come back later and

that's fine then it will if you get

caught in thinking about your [ __ ] in

clinging you're caught in opinions

you're caught in concepts you're caught

in a lot of suffering

there's a lot of healing techniques in

this that are being taught in this

College loving-kindness meditation is

one of the most powerful healing

techniques I've ever seen for a few

reasons

one your mind is happy when you're

practicing loving-kindness and that's

powerful in itself and you're practicing

your generosity when the Buddha talked

about meditation he didn't say that

meditation is just about sitting in a

rock out in the forest somewhere

he said there's three parts to the

meditation the first part of the

meditation is learning how to practice

your generosity

what is generosity mean it doesn't mean

that I want you to give money

necessarily you can if you want that's

up to you but it means giving and

helping someone outside of yourself

you give somebody else a smile makes

them happy you practice that kind of

generosity all day watch how you change

the world around you and it's your

choice you can do that or not I spend a

lot of time teaching people how to smile

because almost everybody has resistance

to smiling for one reason or another I

used to walk around with a mirror and

I'd see somebody not smiling and I'd

hold it up in front of their face and

say what are you doing with your mind

that's the external expression of what's

happening internally do you want to be a

good healer make them happy make the

people that come to you that are

suffering make their happy happiness

level rise and you can't give something

away that you don't have yourself this

is why practicing loving kindness

meditation is an important aspect of

becoming a healer an awful lot of people

they talk about compassion what's the

definition of compact

you couldn't do from five to five of

anything what's the definition of

compassion loving someone else and

conditionally

that's almost exactly right there's just

a little bit more to it it's seeing

another person in pain allowing them the

space to have their own pain and then

loving them unconditionally

I used to spend a lot of time going to

hospitals when I was in Asia that every

any time anybody got sick they called me

and sometimes I would I would go visit

people that were deathly sick they were

just about ready to die before I walked

in the room I reminded myself that their

pain is their pain and it's okay for

them to have it I can love them no

matter what

when I walk in the room I didn't try to

take their pain away I can't take your

pain away your pain is yours I can make

myself miserable and come down and be

miserable with you but my choice is not

to do that what I do I allow them the

space to have their pain and as I love

them their pain lessens their pain

becomes more bearable if you tried oh my

poor dear I feel

sorry for you well if I walk in like

that I'm making myself miserable and

then I walk out and I've not I haven't

helped that other person at all when I

walk in and I start joking with them

making them feel good making their mind

uplifted before long their pain becomes

much less they're coming up to my level

of awareness and they're accepting the

love that I'm giving them this is real

important

I've been with people that were in comas

and the doctors walk in they think they

can say anything in a room that somebody

has a coma ah they're not there anyway

what difference does it make no no no

not when I'm around I'll take a doctor

out of the room tell them no you can't

be in here now if you're going to be

speaking like that they are very much

aware but they're not strong enough to

interact in a normal way so how do you

interact with somebody with that's in a

coma you calm your mind down put your

hand on their forehead or on their heart

and ask them simple questions and wait

for the answer to come you ask them is

there anything I could do to make you

feel more comfortable and after a few

minutes of having a quiet mind yes I'm

really thirsty right now okay so I go

get a eyedropper and I start wetting the

tongue and wetting the lips makes them

more comfortable but spending time

focusing on happiness on wishing them

well and radiating that feeling to them

is the healing aspect of being with them

when I used to walk into the room people

would say you know everybody else that

comes in they they're not really very

comfortable and they don't know what to

do and they don't know what to say and

they'll straighten the pillow and then

open the door or open a window or close

the window or and then before long they

walk out and they said you know when you

walk in it's like fresh air coming in

the room what's the difference between

what I'm doing and what they're doing

what they're doing is being afraid of

being with somebody that has paint

they're afraid of their own pain they

don't want to accept it they want to run

away from it so they do busy things and

then they get away from it as fast as

they can and I walk in and I completely

accept their pain I know what pain is

I've broken enough toes I'll tell you I

used to walk barefoot in the forest

that's not a not good for toes but

that's another story

the more you can accept the fact that

there is life and there is death the

less afraid you become of it and the

less fear you have the less fear you

projected as you focus on wishing them

well wishing them happiness wishing them

a peaceful mind feeling that feeling and

radiating that feeling to them the more

you can do that the more peaceful and

calm and accepting they are of their

situation I used to know a doctor who's

a friend of mine he hated needles

absolutely hated needles and he would

give somebody his shot and he would go

right before he gave it to him I told

him I didn't ever want to see him with a

needle in his hand around me what he was

projecting was his own fear you can't

project fear you have to project love

the more you can stay with that uplifted

mind

the more healing you give to other

people what's the easiest way to stay

with an uplifted mind

smile

I'll tell you what this is what I want

you to try I want you to try for one

week

everybody in this room smile all the

time

into everything smile and when you can't

smile then laughs this really sounds

hokey when you start smiling and you

smile into everything you start noticing

how much more clear your mind is you

start noticing how much faster you can

notice your mind getting grabbing onto

something and becoming tight and then

when you laugh at that it's easy to let

it go I've had students that the when

it's easy it's easy and when it's hard

it's hard they get in some kind of

emotional thing and I come along as they

laugh at that I can't laugh at that I'm

serious the whole thing is what the

Buddha taught us is how to be happy

what's the best way to practice being

happy smiling and laughing then you

start having joy come up in your mind

joy is one of the Enlightenment factors

joy is a very necessary part of the

practice because when you don't have joy

in your mind your mind gets very heavy

and gets tight when you can laugh at

being caught by your

sadness depression anxiety restlessness

anger whatever when you can laugh at

that all of a sudden you're going from

I'm mad and I don't like it - oh it's

only this anger

what does laughter do it changes your

perspective it changes your perspective

from the heavy I'm that and I don't like

it

- it's only that that's easy to let go

what do I need this anger for what do I

need this upset for so that the real

skill of learning meditation is being

able to learn how your mind's attention

moves from one thing to another but

seeing that all the time it's not just

while you're sitting we have these

things that are called hindrances

hindrances will stop you from being

clear hindrances are where your

attachments are what are the hindrances

lust

I want my hatred I don't want mine

sleepiness dullness restlessness anxiety

doubt whenever these arise they will

stop you from being aware they'll stop

you from being clear and you start

identifying with it and you make

yourself miserable by wallowing around

it

the biggest hindrance is restlessness

what is restlessness all your wandering

thoughts all your thoughts that pull you

away and you kind of pull a home around

thinking about this and thinking about

that not really paying attention to what

you're doing do you ever have that

happen while you're studying so what do

you do with that restlessness is called

a distracted mind and Buddhism how do

you let go of a distracted mind you let

go of a distracted mind one by not

moving your body at all when

restlessness arises it is a an

unpleasant feeling and you feel like

you've got to do 20 things and you've

only got 10 minutes to do it that's the

feeling of restlessness you do this oh I

forgot I got to do that and you do that

and oh I didn't finish this you know

what I mean when your mind is doing that

what you need to do is sit down for a

few minutes and collect your mind let go

of that feeling allow that feeling to be

there but don't take it personally

let it be there and relax into it after

four or five minutes then all of a

sudden you become efficient at what

you're doing you do this finish you do

that finish you don't have to worry

about coming back and finishing this or

that that's how you'd let go of the

restlessness

now the hindrances when they arise

they don't come one at a time they kind

of like to gang up on you it's kind of

like getting kicked when you're down the

restlessness arises I don't like that

feeling and then you start thinking

about the feeling now remember I told

you thoughts are one thing feelings are

something else

you can't think appealing it doesn't

work you have to let go of the thoughts

and allow the space for the feeling to

be there why because it's the truth when

a feeling arises it's there anytime you

try to fight with the truth or make it

different than what it is that will

cause you more and more mental upset and

physical pain people in the hospital

they have these big pains I've walked

into rooms where they're moaning and

groaning really loudly because the pain

is so intense what do I do the first

thing is I tell them to start relaxing

take it easy

let go of those thoughts the pain is

there it's okay for it to be there by

the time I would leave they're laughing

and smiling

what is laughing and smiling do for a

sick person in pain a lot it lets the

endorphins flow the endorphins are your

painkiller start feeling better the more

we can be aware of what our mind is

doing in the present moment and we

choose to have an uplifted mind a happy

mind a smiling mine

the more we affect the world around us

in a positive way what's happening right

now in this country a lot of fear a lot

of greed a lot of dissatisfaction that's

what the government wants you to get

involved with how many people here have

a television and watch it

you know the biggest favor you could do

for yourself is go buy a nice sized

brick

I've had students that they read four or

five newspapers in the day what in the

world are you doing that for well I have

to know what's happening in the world I

know what's happening in the world

I don't read any newspapers I don't

watch any television anything that's

really important somebody will tell me

about it except I was in Burma and I was

doing a silent meditation retreat and I

did it for two years in 1990 when I came

out of my raid tree I found out I was a

history major I found out that one of

the most fantastic historical events

happened and I didn't know about it

Russia fell and I didn't hear a thing

about it because I wasn't talking to

anybody and I started getting real

bummed out about that I started thinking

wow and I missed that how could I miss

something like that and then I started

thinking well how has that changed my

life now and I started looking and it's

the same now as it was before no big

deal

it's all depends on what we feed our

mind and literally I mean feet when you

have restlessness and you try to control

the restlessness with your thoughts

you're feeding that restlessness and it

gets bigger and more intense

what were the instructions and the

meditation when you have a thought arise

and you see that you let the thought be

there by itself relax and come back to

your meditation now everybody has these

little pink brochures these are a

mnemonic system that will help you

remember how to meditate you recognize

that your mind is distracted you release

that distraction you relax you read

smile smiling is an important part of

meditation and you know it's sad but

nobody teaches that but me it's really

weird

I've been I've done many many retreats

I've been practicing meditation for 35

years I was for the first 20 years under

the very strong impression that

meditation was supposed to be serious

and you aren't supposed to smile and you

aren't supposed to be happy and if you

get any joy arising don't be attached

you've heard that before you well I'm

here to tell you that joy is an

Enlightenment factor and it's good to

experience it and don't be attached how

do you not be attached to drive Joy's of

happy feeling pain is an unhappy feeling

you treat them both in the same way you

allow them to be there relax and come

back to

object of meditation but the thing with

the hindrances is that when they arise

we always take them personally this is

me this is my sadness and every time we

get involved in taking a hindrance

personally all of a sudden this little

trouble starts to turn into Mount

Everest and there's no way around this I

can't think this problem away you can't

go around it you can't go over it can't

go under it when you develop your sense

of humor about yourself and you laugh

with yourself for getting caught again

then that huge mountain of problem in

front of you you find it's only a little

bump in the road now what's the

difference the difference is when you

laugh it changes your perspective when

you laugh at yourself for being caught

again slow learner

then you're not caught anymore then this

huge problem that doesn't have any

resolution at all nothing what made it

such a big problem because I took it

personally and I tried to think this

feeling away and the more I tried to

think about it the more I worried about

it the more anxious I became about it

the bigger and more intense it became

what to do change your perspective learn

how to have an uplifted mind and use

that uplifted mind as much as you

possibly can now this is the same with a

dull mind you ever have those days you

go into a class and you feel like going

to sleep well that's dullness didn't

dullness and in buddhism is described

this way it's like butter that's been in

the refrigerator and it's gotten really

cold and you have a fresh piece of bread

out of the oven and you try to spread

that to cold butter on on the bread just

doesn't spread

that's what dullness is that's what

sleepy and mine is now the odd thing is

the way to let go of the sleepiness is

by relaxing and Buddhism they call

sleepy minor dolma and they call it a

contracted light it gets real tense and

tight

when you let go of that tension and

tightness and take more interest in what

you were doing in the present moment

that sleepiness and tightness will fade

away interest is a real important aspect

of the meditation and so is having fun

if you have fun learning something you

get interested in and you don't want to

stop so what to do start having fun when

your study have fun while you're in

class take an interest in what you're

doing while you're doing everything

becomes easier when you do that see the

whole thing is what the Buddha taught us

was how to have an uplifted mind why do

you want an uplifted mind because great

things happen for people that are happy

all kinds of magical things happen when

you have an uplifted mind now I meditate

in a very very Bible Belt place in

Missouri and this lady came and she

wanted to know about meditation so I

taught her and she started getting so

happy that good thing started happening

for and she got suspicious and she came

to me and she said are you teaching me

magic

and I said well in the way I'm teaching

you the magic of having a happy mind

scared er you want good things to happen

to you you want to meet real interesting

people you want to have fun projects to

do be happy smile and laugh the first 20

years of my meditation I did buy a

mermaid-style meditation I develop very

deep lines in my face when I was

meditating I was crying I didn't have

what you would call an uplifted mind I

had an alert money but it wasn't real

uplifted and it took 20 years to learn

how to do this it's difficult I did a

lot of meditation somebody asked me one

time how much meditation I did and I

started thinking and I went well I don't

count

only one month retreats or less they're

just walk in the park I've done 12 14

three months retreats I did an eight

month retreat I did a two-year retreat

real intense

I have done a fair amount of meditation

but I went to the end of the meditations

that I was taught and I wasn't satisfied

with it so I started going to the

original teaching of the Buddha started

going to the circus and I started

noticing some very interesting things

one the Buddha was teaching us how to be

happy I never got that message in 20

years nobody ever told me that it's okay

to laugh and be happy I was supposed to

be serious all the time

that's meditation and serious stuff well

it's right you want to be serious meat

seriously happy do you see how your mind

feels when you start smiling and you

start laughing your mind feels pretty

okay practice that all the time it

doesn't matter what you're doing you're

watching your the dishes smile on be

happy that way you can notice when your

mind gets distracted and starts to get

pulled down now what happens when your

mind gets on something and starts

thinking about something is that your

mind will jump from thinking about this

to thinking about that and before long

you're a thousand miles away thinking

thinking thinking and they're just

little thoughts that don't really matter

at all but that's the nature of mind to

do that when you start smiling when you

start laughing what you start noticing

is your mind doing that

go very easily and smile into that and

come back to what you're doing while

you're doing it and be happy with that

when you have restlessness arise while

you're your study you got a test coming

up you have a lot of anxiety you have

this pressure because you want to do

well on the test all of a sudden your

mind is thinking about oh god I better

do good on this I really need a good

grade every thought about that is

pulling you away from what you're

studying and before long you'll have

that thought of worry and anxiety that

is that's really me that's mine that's

my problem

and then you'll think about this and

you'll think about that and you'll think

about that and before long you have to

go back and read the same sentence over

again

because you weren't paying attention to

it when you practice meditation in the

right way you see that your mind is

distracted you smile into that

distraction and let it go and come back

to what you're doing while you're doing

it all of the sudden you become more

efficient with what you're doing while

you're doing you become really efficient

you absorb what you're studying

really

does meditation help in real life you

bet it's about real life it's about

living in a way that you can have an

uplifted mind all the time too many

times people practice meditation so they

can be calm while they're sitting in

meditation and then they get up from the

meditation and forget everything they

learn and go out and live their life in

whatever way they're going to live it

but what I'm suggesting to you is you

have to take your meditation with you

and use it all the time watch what your

mind is doing in whatever situation it

is we had a real interesting thing

happen as we were coming from the East

Coast out here we stopped it uh had a

place to get something to drink got

something to drink

started walking up and looked at the

side of the vehicle it's all bashed in

on one side I said look at that and kamo

was there quema used to be a highly

emotional person he would fall apart

like you can't believe

and she would be crying and yelling and

that it had to go on for hours before I

started working with it but we both

stopped and looked and when hmm isn't

that something somebody just they got

too close and when they pulled out they

just scraped the whole side of the truck

bashed it in so we got under the truck

and looked to see if there was anything

that was really bad with it no we can

drive okay let's go didn't think about

it after that didn't talk about it after

that that's what happened in the present

moment

it was there yep that's the problem have

to solve it sometime in the future don't

worry about it now and continue and be

happy any time you see that you have

repeat thoughts repeat thoughts are an

attachment

you walk in the class and one of the

students looks at you and they're mad at

you and they come up and they give you

heck what do you do when that happens

you get mad you take their anger you

make it your anger and you throw your

anger back at them and now you're saying

things at the same time and you really

tell that so-and-so off and they're

telling you off at the same time so you

don't hear what they said and they don't

hear what you said and then they walk

away what happens in your mind just like

it's on a tape deck doesn't it

they said this and I said that oh I

should have said this job and I'm right

and they're wrong and then the tape deck

it happens again it happens again and

you happen to have ok classes over you

go to the car and you're thinking about

that so and so are you really driving

I do think accidents happen I didn't see

it that part has popped up right in

front of me I didn't see them course you

didn't see him why because we were

thinking about what happened way back

when that could be the other way around

to where instead of getting angry at

them you take it on yourself you don't

really stop well what I'm talking about

is the repeat thoughts right and how the

repeat cut the repeat thoughts are

showing you that you're taking a feeling

making it you're feeling

personally and then you try to control

the feeling with your thoughts then you

go home and you say anybody around

leave me alone I've had a bad day and

you go to sleep and you toss and you

turn and you don't get real good rest

and you get up in the morning and you're

groggy and you bump into things and

takes a long time to wake up this can go

on for days

just from what happened one small

incident that happened way back then so

what to do recognize what your mind is

doing and how to take care of that

problem now if you were practicing true

compassion somebody comes up and they

get angry at you and you see that

they're suffering you see their faces

all red and their face their expression

is really ugly and they're shaking

because they're so mad you know what

that feels like because you've done it

too

so instead of paying attention to what

they're saying and taking their anger

and making it yours and throwing it back

at them you start sending loving and

kind thoughts to them it takes two to

tango takes two to fight there's only

one fight the fight lessens and that

person will either calm down and you can

find out what the real problem is

because it's not what they're talking

about or they'll go oh it either way

your mind stays uplifted and happy and

you're ready for whatever happens next

see when you take somebody else's anger

and make it your anger they go away what

do you do with the next person you see

are you happy in shining and smiling to

them no and you start treating other

people through that anger and it wasn't

even yours to start with

that's a hindrance isn't it and it's a

hindrance because you're identifying

with those thoughts and with those

feelings personally and isn't it funny

I mean honestly isn't it funny stupid

minded that's taking all this stuff

personally you laugh and all of a sudden

it's not my anger anymore it's only this

anger do I want to carry this around and

give it to other people right now not

really

let it go see that that craving that I

was talking about earlier that I like it

I don't like it mine it always arises

with every distraction

always if you don't recognize that

tension and tightness then there's going

to be a lot of thoughts and opinions and

concepts and ideas coming up and these

things happen very quickly and they

happen over and over again until you're

aware of what you're doing with your

mind in the present moment I'm going to

let go of that the whole point of

learning how to smile and laugh into

things and so you can see how you cause

your own pain there's nobody out there

that causes your pain you cause the pain

to yourself and what is that pain taking

it personally grabbing on to it and

saying this is who I am when in fact

it's part of an impersonal process

so let go of the I am and then you start

letting go of the pain the more you

practice smiling the easier it gets to

have an uplifted mind and it doesn't

matter I don't care whether you say if I

walk around smiling it's not going to be

genuine I don't care smile anyway why

psychological testing they said your

mind doesn't know when you're smiling

whether it's real or not and when your

mind sees that you're smiling that says

well I'm supposed to be happy enough the

more you smile and practice smiling the

more clear your mind becomes there's

real advantages to practicing this as

much as you can the Buddha talked about

it in real practical ways he said when

you practice sending love and smiling

you'll go to sleep really easily I

practice a lot I have to admit I'm

Anette that's okay if you fanatic with

something but when it gets time for me

to go to sleep I toss and turn for a

good five six seconds before I go to

sleep and when I go to sleep I sleep

very soundly that's another advantage of

doing this when I wake up my mind is

alert it's awake there's not this groggy

grumble grumble grumble grumble bumping

into things where's my coffee I need my

coffee in the morning my mind is alert

this is another advantage of doing this

your dreams become very pleasant and at

first you can have some real strange

dreams but when you radiate

loving-kindness into your dreams they

change and become very pleasant animals

like you

there's been a lot of instances where

I've been around animals that they're

like attack dogs I walk up to them and

pet them and the owner is going how did

you do that I don't know I like them so

they like me people like don't you like

like to be around people that are

smiling and happy how many people like

to be around somebody that's grumpy and

angry all the time

see so practice it another advantage is

that your face becomes beautiful when

you smile I used to give out mirrors to

people and carry in their pocket that

smile on it this one lady in Washington

DC she she's very beautiful when she

smiled and she told me if she got in a

fight with her boyfriend and I said did

you pull out the mirror and take a look

at your face then she said oh no I

wouldn't do that I said why are you

afraid of cracking it but people that

get into their anger their face can get

even black and they're not pleasant to

be around so why do you want to give

that kind of energy to other people the

more you practice smiling the more you

practice laughing in your everyday life

the clearer your awareness of what's

happening in the present moment becomes

now there's a lot of people that really

like to get into their intuition how do

you get

in tuition you smile and let that smile

come into your mind and then let

everything go your intuition will start

talking to you

it's a quiet little voice but a lot of

people don't hear their intuition

because they're so thinking about so

much other's stuff that they ignore it

when it comes up they don't recognize

your intuition is something that it's

always right I've never seen intuition

wrong how do you get into your intuition

not from a thought in mind as you

practice smiling more and more your mind

becomes more at ease you have more joy

arising in your life when you have joy

arising you have a mind that's really

alert and it's very quick at recognizing

things but this is something again that

you don't just do while you're sitting

in meditation this is something that you

have to carry with you all the time it's

kind of fun

having fun and practicing meditation how

many people have heard that those two

things in the same sentence therefore

it's okay to have fun it's okay to smile

it's okay to be peaceful and calm with

yourself now one of the things that an

awful lot of people get cockpit is we

think that we're supposed to be perfect

with everything that we do and we don't

meet our own expectations

who doesn't love themselves then who is

hard on themselves then who isn't

practicing smiling and being happy then

you have to forgive yourself you're not

going to be perfect I've never met

anybody that is so why criticize

yourself why be hard on yourself learn

from your mistakes

that's what mistakes are for they come

up so you can learn from so you don't do

that again

but you don't have to come down on

yourself because of it see the coming

down on yourself is another form of a

hindrance it's another form of the

shoulds I should be better than I am I

should I

hindrances are very important to have

because when a hindrance arises it is

showing you where your attachment is and

if you want to have a clear mind you let

go of that hindrance and relax every

time it comes up as you do this over and

over again that entrance becomes weaker

and weaker until finally it fades away

when it fades away you will feel a

definite relief it's like somebody takes

the rocks off your shoulders strong

really feeling and right after that you

will experience very strong joy the kind

of joy I'm talking about is only

experienced through mental development

everybody in life experiences joy in one

way or another but this kind of joy it

has a lot of excitement in it and it

really feels good why because you've let

go of an attachment you've let go of a

hindrance

now the joy is going to be there for a

little while and then it will fade away

naturally when it does your mind will

become very very tranquil and calm

you'll feel more comfortable in your

mind and in your body than you've ever

felt before

very much at peace

this is what the Buddha called happiness

your mind stays on your object of

meditation without any effort there

could still be some distracting thoughts

or eyes but you see them really quickly

and let go of them very easily and come

back now what I just described to you is

the first stage of the meditation and in

Pali they call it a jhana

Johnna is the first level of your

understanding how this process actually

works I know that there's a lot of other

traditions that use the word jhana

as some kind of a kind of experience

with this kind of meditation that I'm

showing you it's a very natural

experience when I give a retreat

sometimes they give a one-week retreat

sometimes they give it two week retreat

if people haven't experienced this

feeling by the second or third day I

start questioning them very heavily what

are you doing with your mind this is not

a difficult stage to get into and your

understanding becomes deeper and deeper

as you go through other experiences of

the meditation that's what I spend my

time doing teaching that sort of thing

to be

now when I was in Asia I was told that

when I was in Thailand they told me that

if I wanted to get into a jhana it was

going to take me about 15 years of

practice and I'm talking about your

being able to experience that jhana in

one or two days I had one student that

in the first day that she ever meditated

she never did any meditation before she

got into the first jhana why do these

sort of things happen for this lady in

particular there are these things in

Buddhism that are called hindrances and

there are these things in Buddhism

called precepts there's five precepts

that you need to keep it's a suggestion

this is not a commandment coming from

anybody but it leads to a happy life and

it leads to a calm mind

don't kill or harm living beings on

purpose don't take anything that's not

given don't have any wrong sexual

activity I'll talk about that in a

minute don't lie don't curse and that's

one of the things that's happening a lot

these days you hear it on the radio I

mean shocking to listen to the radio

because they're cursing something

they're using speech that's really

offensive

don't use speech that's offensive for

any reason don't slander anyone and that

means divide one group from another and

don't gossip what is gossip it's making

up stories about somebody else if you

don't

whether it's true or not don't take any

drugs or alcohol these Five Precepts

are reasonably easy to follow and if you

keep them when you do your meditation

your mind will become very calm very

quickly now the precept on wrong sexual

activity the Buddhist that wrong sexual

activity means no sexual activity with

someone that's too young in other words

they're under the care of their parents

or guardians no sexual activity with

another person's mate no sexual activity

with prostitutes outside of that it's up

to you

why do you have this precept because

when you break this precept you're

causing problems not only for yourself

but for other people too basically the

sexual precept goes like this anytime

you have any sexual activity if it

causes pain to you or anyone else that

doesn't only mean the person you're

having the sexual activity with but any

of their relatives or any of their

friends or whatever then don't do that

don't have sexual activity that's gonna

cause problems

so keeping these five precepts is

reasonably easy you've only got five

I have 227 there's a lot of things that

I can't do

now the taking drugs and alcohol doesn't

mean taking medicine it means taking

drugs or alcohol to take the edge off to

quote have fun why do you do this and

take this precept because you have the

very real problem of breaking the other

precepts when you break this precept and

it dulls your mind up amazing when I

give retreat to people I can tell some

but when somebody has been doing a lot

of pot and they might have quit for a

year after the second day I looked at

him and say how long ago did you stop

smoking pot how did you know that your

mind self dull

keep your mind sharp keep your mind

alert don't dull it out with drugs and

alcohol in the name of fun you want to

have fun smile and be happy okay

now any time you break a precept you can

look forward to an end rinse arising

that's the way it works when you break a

precept your mind will tell you right

then in there you should have done that

we'll forget it this time let me go on

then you sit in meditation and your mind

is super active and troublesome and

there's all this anger and all this fear

and all this anxiety coming up why does

it come up because of breaking precepts

and it might be from this lifetime or it

might be from a past lifetime yes there

are past lifetime I can show you them

so the whole thing is learning how mind

works learning the way to improve the

world around you you like being around

people that don't break precepts because

you could trust them you know that

they're not going to lie to you they're

going to tell you the truth or they'll

be quiet which is another way of saying

true

as you start affecting the world around

you in a positive way the world starts

responding to you in a positive way

somebody from the BBC right after this

problems that they had in Burma in

December they called me up and asked me

what my opinion of what was happening

what do you think the Burmese people

should do

I said not be angry they need to sit

down and start sending loving and kind

thoughts to themselves and loving and

kind thoughts to everyone else around

them now they've been practicing

Buddhism for years and years and years

but they forget every now and then

because the current situation is such

that they're being bossed around by a

very few number of people and they don't

like it so they're getting into their

dislike of the present moment in

studying instead of learning to lovingly

accept and radiate loving-kindness so

they're perpetuating the problem because

they're into their dislike

they need to start uplifting their mind

and when they uplift their mind the

world around them will change and that's

what I told the BBC and as I understand

it they put that all over Europe this is

how we handle our problems not by aiding

the government not by indulging in what

the government wants us to think about

but by practicing or smiling practicing

or laughing okay I've been talking for a

long time now does anybody have any

questions comments statements anything

oh my pleasure it really is

wife is it difficult why can't we just

be like

like all these habits are hard to let go

of that's why we we start our life with

liking and disliking things from mom and

dad and then it kind of expands over

time and we get very judgmental and we

have a lot of concepts that don't

necessarily meet with reality we want

things to be the way we want them to be

when we want them to be that way and

when they aren't then what happens we

start suffering a lot

we have been doing this from time

immemorial because there are lots of

times when a Buddha's teaching isn't

available for a lot of people so they go

on with their old habit of thinking and

doing things the way they've always done

them it takes a lot of effort to have an

uplifted mind it's easy it still takes a

lot of effort and when it when it's hard

it's kind of comical for me because I

walk up to somebody and I say what are

you so sad about be happy boy I get a

lot of comments I can't be happy now

this is happening to me but how does

your mind feel when you do that one guy

that was he had cancer he was very close

to death his body was just kind of

melting away

and I walked into his room one day and

he said everybody out of the room I just

want to talk to her ever okay what do we

got going here and very seriously he

said the doctor told me that I need to

make out my will because I'm terminal

and I started to laugh so am I everybody

is it's okay to be terminal and he

started laughing and he went oh thanks I

needed that I told him he was lucky he

has a more guys more clear idea when

it's going to happen than we do so be

happy to send other people well wish

them well he did die and I had I got

went to Thailand to give a retreat to a

bunch of people and when I came back the

day before I came back he died and the

people that were with him said that he

died smiling okay that's a good death he

learned a lot in this lifetime to be

able to do that he wasn't afraid of it

and he was sending loving and kind

thoughts to other people so his rebirth

if you believe in that sort of thing is

very pleasant the Hindus and the

Buddhists both believe that your last

thoughts before you die are very

important and if your thoughts are

uplifting and happy then you'll be

reborn in a higher realm and if they're

not then you won't be

so it's a real special time to be around

people that are dying and reminding them

you remember when you were so kind and

when you are so helpful and when when

you meet other people smile and laugh

you get them to remember those kind of

things and get them to talk about those

kind of things if they have enough

energy to talk or just reflect on it

it's okay

then when they die they'll have an

uplift at night

you've helped that person a lot one of

the things that the Buddha taught was

how to die

and he wants you to die completely

totally from this moment and be reborn

the net

as you can accept death you can accept

life

if you accept death totally you will

accept life completely

as you practice smiling and laughing you

are learning how to accept everything

that arises as just another thing it's

gonna be there for a little while it's

gonna disappear and that's the way life

is and it's okay it's all a matter of

perspective the more you practice

smiling and being happy and uplifted the

more friendly you're going to be to

other people the more you're going to

help other people how do you do in a

traffic jam these days what do you do

with your mind while you're in the

traffic jam you're smiling and happy why

do you know what everybody else's mind

is like their minds just like yours late

you can get into your worry and anxiety

in this lack or not it's your choice you

are responsible for making yourself

happy and you are responsible for making

yourself sad what do you want to do you

want to be happy you want to be said

it's a conscious decision there's nobody

out here that's causing you problems you

cause your own problems and you manifest

these problems how do you manifest these

problems by your imagery you image that

you're always broke you're always going

to be broke

you image that you're always sad you're

always going to be sad

what kind of image do you hold for

yourself not what I want but what kind

of image

are you keeping about yourself or about

other people

oh every time I see these people they've

always got problems with them yeah

you're right you're going to keep having

those problems as long as you're the

image that way you image about physical

problems and how they're always causing

you problems yeah you're right because

you're imaging that see part of the

healing is teaching other people how to

image a healthy happy body and a healthy

happy mine

what's the best way to teach other

people by example it's that simple

nothing is that simple sure it is the

Buddha was actually brilliant at showing

us the simplest ways to do things but we

like to make everything so complicated

and so intricate that we lose what he's

seen you smile you be happy simple

try it all the time simple easy no it's

not it's hard what kind of an image are

you holding of yourself see how its

interconnected everything is intertwined

your mind and your body are

interconnected and there's a connection

with everybody around you how do you

want to affect them your trucks

hold the image of being happy and smile

and be happy then the other people

around you will start doing the same

thing then they'll start looking for

causes why am I so happy now

okay yeah well you know today one of the

biggest problems you're probably going

to face is that three out of every four

three out of every four people in the

industrialized nations right now are

taking some kind of drug for depression

so can you talk to them a little bit

about the handling and depression

through the use of meditation depression

is easy to let go of it's not a big deal

at all

what is depression a painful feeling

arises I don't like that painful feeling

I have thoughts about that painful

feeling and my habit is every time this

feeling arises I always attack it that

way the more you think about the feeling

the bigger and more intense the feeling

becomes until finally you say oh I just

can't stand this I gotta go to the

doctor and get some drugs and he gives

you something that knocks you out so you

can't even act like a real person

anymore

as you start recognizing the importance

of smiling into things and laughing the

laughter stops the thinking about now

your perspective is different

it doesn't take very long to overcome

depression it takes a while because you

have to practice your smiley and these

thoughts because of this painful feeling

they they're quite often very similar

coming up over and over and over again

you have repeat thoughts quite often

with depression I hate this feeling when

it's there I wish it would stop I want

it to go away

III who's the who's feeling is it did

you say you know I haven't been

depressed this week I think it's time

for me to do it

I'm gonna get depressed nobody is stupid

enough to do that so what you do is

recognize that your mind is trying to

control a feeling let go of the thoughts

and relax see that tight mental fist

that's a painful feeling yeah it's a

painful feeling that's the truth and

it's okay for that painful feeling to be

there it has to be it's the truth

allow the truth to be there it's only a

feeling I told you a little while ago I

used to walk through the forest barefoot

and at night and I kick a rock and then

break the toe that's painful and as soon

as it happened there was the shock there

was the pain there was the dislike right

on top of that and right after that I

started noticing that I was throwing my

my hatred into my toe and my toe is

crying out saying don't hate me love me

that's what I want right now so instead

of getting into my anger for doing it I

start sending love into that spot and

before long pain pretty much goes away I

might limp around for a little bit and

in a day or two days I forget that I

even did it it's nothing it doesn't

matter whether it's physical pain or

mental pain it all happens in the same

way painful feeling arises what you do

with what rises in the present moment

dictates what happens in the future you

see that painful feeling that tightness

that happens around that painful feeling

and then all of the thoughts about that

painful feeling and your habitual

tendency and I always treat this feeling

in the same way well after a few years

you should start learning that that

don't work don't do that

so what to do different well let go of

the thoughts and relax allow the space

for that painful feeling to be there

when I when I broke the toe it was real

it was pain and it was there and it was

okay for it to be there it had to be

okay because it was a truth allow the

space for the truth to be there without

trying to control it another example I

have a silver tooth I was in Burma

Dennis decided he was going to do me a

favor clean my teeth and he broke it and

then he says I am going to give you a

root canal and I said fine but you don't

clean your needles I don't want any AIDS

so give me a root canal I don't want any

painkiller he did it he gave me a root

canal I was sitting in the chair and my

hands would get real white and all of my

muscles would tense up and I'd look at

that and I'd say oh look at that

I saw the tension in my back the tension

in my buttocks relax allow the space for

that sensation to be there and I even

had

time to send the person causing me the

pain loving and kind thoughts and after

hours of his drilling which was only

about 15 minutes he stopped and he

started doing the other things that he

had to do to my tooth and I started

noticing that my mind was bright my mind

was alert my mind was very happy not

because the pain had stopped but my mind

was very happy because it was so clear

and in the present moment now that was

real pain and I've since come to this

country and had to have another root

canal and I did the same thing I don't

like drugs

so the whole thing comes down to is it

my pain or is it just in pain if it's my

pain I can't allow them to do that if

it's just a pain it's okay there's no

emergency in it

there's no tightening around it there's

no want to control it

there's only allowing the space for that

sensation to be there because it's the

truth

it's there you do that with depression

that feeling is there so it's a feeling

okay not my feeling I didn't ask it to

come up allow the space for that feeling

to be there relax into it direct your

mind to something wholesome smiley now

when the Buddha was teaching the

Eightfold Path one of the factors of the

whole path was called right effort I

call it harmonious practice there's four

parts to right effort noticing when your

mind is unwholesome has an unwholesome

thought recognized

letting go of that unwholesome thought

releasing and relaxing bringing up a

wholesome thought read smiling return

into your meditation keeping that

wholesome thought going staying with

your meditation as much as you can

that's what that's little pink pen that

is that's what it says when you're

practicing this it is practicing right

effort oh I have some students that have

been practicing with me for a long time

more than 30 years and they finally

started understanding that this these

four little things that are that's six

in your in your pink pants lip

it really works and they were surprised

of course I've been talking about this

for years

but they finally heard it that pink

pamphlet is exactly how to do the

meditation and that will lead you to all

kinds of understanding and all kinds of

insights that you never dreamed possible

the hindrances when they arise are your

teachers there showing you where your

attachments are and they're showing you

how strong your attachments are and when

you practice the six hours you can let

go of that the Buddha taught Four Noble

Truths he said there is suffering in

life we don't need to be taught that

everybody knows that one there's a cause

of suffering what's the cause of

suffering the cause of suffering is

breathing the tension and tightness

relax when you relax you're experiencing

the third noble truth

that's the cessation of the suffering

the cessation of the craving the way

leading to the cessation of the

suffering Eightfold Path when you

practice the Eightfold Path you're

practicing the six art

it's all interconnected everytime you

smile you're practicing the full path

every time you laugh - practicing the

full path every time you notice that

there's a headache starting to happen

and you relax all of the muscles you're

letting go of that suffering you're

practicing the full path it all works

keeping an uplifted mind practice that

uplifted mind keep smiling notice what

your mind is doing in the present moment

mindfulness is a word that's used very

often and it's connected with Buddhism

and a lot of people when you talk about

mindfulness they'll say you say who's

that mean well it means being mindful

you can't use the word they're trying to

define in the definition mindfulness is

remembering to observe how meiyan's

attention moves from one thing to

another it's remembering to observe

when you're smiling are you practicing

your mindfulness you bet it's getting

stronger the more you smile and laugh

into things are you strengthening your

mindfulness yes not just a little bit

the trick is to remember to do it as

much as you possibly can that's the

trick so what's your drop smile be happy

have fun are you practicing what the

Buddha taught you bet keep it going it's

that easy it's that simple

you'd be surprised how many people come

up during a retreat and tell me it can't

be that simple that can and it is but

simple and hard to do aren't necessarily

the same thing so is there anybody that

has a question now what a great teacher

yeah my dreams when I have them there

there's two two categories one of them

is prophetic and the other is very light

I have dreams of being in front of

people and radiating loving-kindness to

them I have dreams of being in lark with

large Aarti audiences and saying things

that make them happy those are the kind

of dreams today

don't dream very often when I go to

sleep but just it's interesting the

subject of dreams to know because like

face to have dreams that would be real

disturbing and stuff and I'd go and say

well what am I supposed to do with this

you know and practicing new meta you can

take whoever's coming after you or

whatever is not right you can put the

meta into the dream and change the whole

dream or you can take if there's some

little devil chase and you put him

inside a capsule and then send him as

much loving-kindness as possible and

just watch and try to get out you know

and little things like that and you can

actually start and do things while

you're sleeping it's real interesting

think okay medic medically speaking it's

really interesting that you know

medicine looks at it and says that

everything happens from stress and the

stress relationship to medical disorders

both physical and mental okay if you go

back from a stress disorder which is a

diagnosis in a hospital you go back to

the seat of that you get to the tension

and tightness and then if you look at

the definition of what he said craving

was its tension and tightness and mind

and body and if you look at the

instruction you're retraining the body

to instead of grabbing every time into

releasing so what you're doing is you're

freeing the mind of disturbing factors

but you're also freeing the body from a

lot of things that are happening that's

what we do and the more uplifted your

mind becomes the more it changes your

chemical balance or in those it changes

things that are happening with your

hormones

there's there are so many different

things that happen with doing this kind

of meditation that it's it's surprising

that it's not more popular than it is

but I'm kind of reinvent her because I

practice meditation so much the other

way the one pointed way and when I found

out what the Buddha was actually

teaching and he added this extra step I

started doing it and it just blew my

mind how how much deeper now I had 20

years of practice

I was said to be very very advanced with

this one pointed concentration and when

I started practicing with this extra

step of relaxing all of the sudden I was

going deeper than I've ever gone before

I mean it was amazing it was it was

shocking how much better my meditation

had become now what's the difference

between one pointed concentration and

what I'm showing you one pointed

concentration your mind is on your

object of meditation there's a

distraction you let go of the

distraction immediately come back to

your object of meditation okay know when

you're practicing what I'm showing you

your mind is on your object of

meditation the same there's a

distraction you let go of it the same

now you add this one step of relax the

tension and tightness what are you doing

when you relax the tension and tightness

you're letting go

of the crazy now you have a pure mind

that you're bringing back to your object

of meditation that one extra step

changes everything and it doesn't change

it a little bit it changes it a lot

really changes the ability for you to be

it changes your awareness what your mind

is doing in the present moment when you

practice one point in concentration your

mind does this and stays on one thing

when you practice what I'm teaching your

mind does this so you can see things way

far away that are starting to arrive and

eventually you start letting go of all

of those kinds of things and you get to

a quiet mind but it's very alert it's

not absorbed into anything its alert

it's awake and that's what nirvana is

the experience of Nirvana that the

Buddha had he called it awaken from the

dream he'd practiced all kinds of

meditation before that he'd practiced

one pointed concentration as far as

anybody could take it he was a very very

advanced meditator but he wasn't

satisfied with it he saw that there's

still other things that were there and

the other thing that he saw was craving

he saw that there was this tension and

tightness still there in his mind so he

came up with adding this extra step so

it's not there anymore

and as you do that your mind becomes

much more alert and you're able to take

the practice of sitting

meditation into your life into everyday

things

now when you practice one pointed

concentration you'll get to a certain

place where the force of the

concentration pushes down the hindrances

so they don't arise but the hindrances

are where your attachments are your

hindrances are the thing that keeps you

where your attachments aren't how strong

they are so when the Buddha saw this and

he added that extra step of relaxing he

said ah now the hindrances can come up

and I can actually start letting go of

these attachments and look at how much

more clear mind is when you start

letting go of the attachment the people

that practice one pointed concentration

they say well my mind is so peaceful in

the column while I'm sitting but they go

out into life and they're not any better

person because of the doing the

meditation and you need to be a better

person that's what the whole point of

the meditation is learning how to be a

better person by letting go of your

attachments

so I should get off with so Christ

so when before we leave I want to share

merit with everyone in suffering ones be

suffering free and the fear struck

fearless be the grieving shed all grief

that may all beings find really may all

being shared this merit that we have

thus acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting

space in their Davis and Nagas of mighty

power share this merit of ours may they

long protect the Buddha's dispensation

good evening everybody

thank you very much for coming to this

talk drew asked us if we would do this

and and venerable agreed and it's really

my privilege to introduce them to you I

have been my name is sister camo and I'm

an American nun I'm from the American

Buddhists [ __ ] tradition which is

probably new to your ears but America

now has a senior-level monk who is

willing to start a tradition in the

United States so I'm the first nun and

it's a pleasure to work with

venerable in what his kind of new

adventurous Buddhism is going through

some changes and everything does that

and there's many many traditions in the

United States and one of the things

that's being passed around a little bit

as this little book if you hold it up

for just a second that is from the

Buddhist world summit and he's been

nominated and then confirmed as the

first representative for the United

States to ever have a representative for

Buddhism at a world Buddhist Council in

Asia so this is kind of a privilege and

their goal is to retrace and try to

reclaim the original Buddhist practice

so it kind of makes sense that they came

and found him in the forest in Missouri

and he had no idea they were going to do

this and asked him if he would do this

and the reason it makes sense is because

he spent 12 years in Asia trying to

figure out what the Buddha did and then

he decided after being offered several

different -

is over there that he would come back

here and stay in the United States

because Americans deserved to be able to

have a experience in Buddhism without

cultural inflections in the Buddhism and

to learn it completely in English and so

that's what's being attempted

how many people have been meditating

before this

there's basically two different kinds of

meditation that are being taught in the

world today one kind of meditation

probably 99.5 percent of all the people

that are practicing and are practicing

this particular kind of meditation and I

call this kind of meditation one pointed

concentration what I just showed you was

the other kind of meditation and this

kind of meditation is called a tranquil

wisdom type of meditation there isn't

much difference between one kind of

meditation and another

the difference between the one pointed

concentration that probably all of you

have practiced in the past and what I

just showed you is that one extra step

of relaxing that changes the entire

meditation

it's a real important step to put into

your practice now I have another

question for you you've been meditating

why why humidity

did you interact it is interactive yeah

why meditate what's the big deal

pieces

being pretty piece into your life why

else

there's no matter what

enjoy the absence

those are one pointed concentration

answers

and which oneself

okay

let me give you a definition of

meditation and see how it flies

meditation is watching how Minds

attention moves from one thing to

another and seeing that everything that

arises is part of an impersonal process

sounds like a lot what do I mean by an

impersonal process you were sitting and

your mind was on your object of

meditation and you had a thought did you

ask that thought to come up does that

talk yours do you see it's impersonal

everything that arises is part of an

impersonal process every feeling that

arises every thought that arises

everything that pulls your mind away

from what you're doing isn't it part of

an impersonal process that we mostly

take as being personal and that's the

cause of suffering why is it the cause

of suffering you have a pain in your

knee okay did you ask that pain to come

up did you say I haven't had this pain

for a long time it's about time for it

to arise now no it came up because the

conditions are right for the pain to

arise what you do with what arises in

the present moment dictates what happens

in the future karma you have a choice of

what you do with these things now in the

instructions in the meditation I said

when a sensation arises you first start

thinking about the feeling

now we're made up of five different

things the psychophysical process is

five different things we have a physical

body we have a feeling da is not emotion

feeling is feeling feeling is pleasant

or painful or neither painful nor

pleasant that's all feeling it we have

perception perception is the part of the

mind that names things you see this your

mind says cut part of your mind that

said that is perception you have

thoughts and you have consciousness now

this feeling that arises in your knee

when it happens the first thing you do

is you try to think the feeling and the

more you get involved with the thoughts

about the feeling the bigger and more

intense the feeling becomes and the more

you're taking that feeling personally I

don't like this I want it to stop I want

it to go away so the first thing we have

to do is let go of our thinking about

the feeling now this is emotional too it

doesn't matter whether it's a feeling in

your knee or sadness or anxiety or

depression or fear or anger it doesn't

matter you treat it all in the same way

the first thing that arises is a painful

feeling and as soon as that painful

feeling arises our habit is to try to

think the feeling away but thoughts are

one thing and feelings are something

else the two never meet so the first

thing we have to do is learn to let go

of the thoughts every time mine

tension moves their cut there is a

tension or tightness that arises in our

head now you you're all pre-med students

you know what the brain is like you have

a membrane around your brain and what

happens every time your attention moves

from one thing to another is it

contracts a little bit there is a

tension and tightness so part of the

instructions is to let go of that

tension and tightness in your physical

body and around your brain and when you

let go of that physical tightness you

let go of the mental tightness at the

same time mind and body are

interconnected so you let go of that

that whatever distraction there is you

let go of the thinking about it and

relax now you have a clear space this

clear space your mind is very bright

your mind is very alert and agile you're

able to see when your mind starts to get

heavy you bring this clear mind this

pure mind to your object of meditation

what's your object to meditation for

loving-kindness it's a feeling of loving

kindness and then feeling the wish and

then sending that wish to someone else

so everytime a thought arises there's

tension and tightness that arises right

along with it or actually right before

it in order to see you have to have good

working hi there has to be color and

form good working I it's color and form

eye-consciousness arises the meeting of

the good working I the color inform and

I consciousness is called eye contact

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises I feeling is pleasant or painful

or neither painful nor pleasant with I

feeling as condition I craving arises

what is craving craving always manifests

as tension and tightness in your mind

and in your body Oh

the craving is the beginning of the idea

of I am that I am my eyes I am my sight

it's the I like it I don't like it mind

if it's a pleasant feeling I like it I

want to hold on to it if it's an

unpleasant feeling oh I don't like it I

want to push it away with I craving as

condition flinging arises clinging is

all of your thoughts all of your

opinions all of your concepts all of

your ideas all of your stories about why

you like or dislike that feeling then

you have your habitual tendency every

time this feeling arises I always act in

that way what the meditation teaches you

is how to recognize this process as

process its impersonal one of the things

that really gets an awful lot of

Westerners angry when I tell them this

is all mine everybody's mind works in

exactly the same way oh no that can't be

right

get that it doesn't matter whether

you're an Easterner if you're from Asia

if you're from Europe if you're from

Africa if you're from America

everybody's mind works in the same way

there's the physical sense door there's

the striking of the physical sense door

with the eye it's the color inform eye

consciousness arises meeting of these

three things is called eye contact it's

the same for everybody

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises with I feeling as condition

craving arises with craving as condition

clinging arises with pinging as

condition your habitual tendency arises

everybody's mind works the same way and

we have a choice when your mind gets

distracted it gets distracted by

thoughts you have the choice to either

let go of that and relax into it or not

some people they start meditating and

they get these great thoughts and they

think hi I got to carry this one through

you don't need to you can put a little

red flag and say come back later and

that's fine then it will if you get

caught in thinking about your [ __ ] in

clinging you're caught in opinions

you're caught in concepts you're caught

in a lot of suffering

there's a lot of healing techniques in

this that are being taught in this

College loving-kindness meditation is

one of the most powerful healing

techniques I've ever seen for a few

reasons

one your mind is happy when you're

practicing loving-kindness and that's

powerful in itself and you're practicing

your generosity when the Buddha talked

about meditation he didn't say that

meditation is just about sitting in a

rock out in the forest somewhere

he said there's three parts to the

meditation the first part of the

meditation is learning how to practice

your generosity

what is generosity mean it doesn't mean

that I want you to give money

necessarily you can if you want that's

up to you but it means giving and

helping someone outside of yourself

you give somebody else a smile makes

them happy you practice that kind of

generosity all day watch how you change

the world around you and it's your

choice you can do that or not I spend a

lot of time teaching people how to smile

because almost everybody has resistance

to smiling for one reason or another I

used to walk around with a mirror and

I'd see somebody not smiling and I'd

hold it up in front of their face and

say what are you doing with your mind

that's the external expression of what's

happening internally do you want to be a

good healer make them happy make the

people that come to you that are

suffering make their happy happiness

level rise and you can't give something

away that you don't have yourself this

is why practicing loving kindness

meditation is an important aspect of

becoming a healer an awful lot of people

they talk about compassion what's the

definition of compact

you couldn't do from five to five of

anything what's the definition of

compassion loving someone else and

conditionally

that's almost exactly right there's just

a little bit more to it it's seeing

another person in pain allowing them the

space to have their own pain and then

loving them unconditionally

I used to spend a lot of time going to

hospitals when I was in Asia that every

any time anybody got sick they called me

and sometimes I would I would go visit

people that were deathly sick they were

just about ready to die before I walked

in the room I reminded myself that their

pain is their pain and it's okay for

them to have it I can love them no

matter what

when I walk in the room I didn't try to

take their pain away I can't take your

pain away your pain is yours I can make

myself miserable and come down and be

miserable with you but my choice is not

to do that what I do I allow them the

space to have their pain and as I love

them their pain lessens their pain

becomes more bearable if you tried oh my

poor dear I feel

sorry for you well if I walk in like

that I'm making myself miserable and

then I walk out and I've not I haven't

helped that other person at all when I

walk in and I start joking with them

making them feel good making their mind

uplifted before long their pain becomes

much less they're coming up to my level

of awareness and they're accepting the

love that I'm giving them this is real

important

I've been with people that were in comas

and the doctors walk in they think they

can say anything in a room that somebody

has a coma ah they're not there anyway

what difference does it make no no no

not when I'm around I'll take a doctor

out of the room tell them no you can't

be in here now if you're going to be

speaking like that they are very much

aware but they're not strong enough to

interact in a normal way so how do you

interact with somebody with that's in a

coma you calm your mind down put your

hand on their forehead or on their heart

and ask them simple questions and wait

for the answer to come you ask them is

there anything I could do to make you

feel more comfortable and after a few

minutes of having a quiet mind yes I'm

really thirsty right now okay so I go

get a eyedropper and I start wetting the

tongue and wetting the lips makes them

more comfortable but spending time

focusing on happiness on wishing them

well and radiating that feeling to them

is the healing aspect of being with them

when I used to walk into the room people

would say you know everybody else that

comes in they they're not really very

comfortable and they don't know what to

do and they don't know what to say and

they'll straighten the pillow and then

open the door or open a window or close

the window or and then before long they

walk out and they said you know when you

walk in it's like fresh air coming in

the room what's the difference between

what I'm doing and what they're doing

what they're doing is being afraid of

being with somebody that has paint

they're afraid of their own pain they

don't want to accept it they want to run

away from it so they do busy things and

then they get away from it as fast as

they can and I walk in and I completely

accept their pain I know what pain is

I've broken enough toes I'll tell you I

used to walk barefoot in the forest

that's not a not good for toes but

that's another story

the more you can accept the fact that

there is life and there is death the

less afraid you become of it and the

less fear you have the less fear you

projected as you focus on wishing them

well wishing them happiness wishing them

a peaceful mind feeling that feeling and

radiating that feeling to them the more

you can do that the more peaceful and

calm and accepting they are of their

situation I used to know a doctor who's

a friend of mine he hated needles

absolutely hated needles and he would

give somebody his shot and he would go

right before he gave it to him I told

him I didn't ever want to see him with a

needle in his hand around me what he was

projecting was his own fear you can't

project fear you have to project love

the more you can stay with that uplifted

mind

the more healing you give to other

people what's the easiest way to stay

with an uplifted mind

smile

I'll tell you what this is what I want

you to try I want you to try for one

week

everybody in this room smile all the

time

into everything smile and when you can't

smile then laughs this really sounds

hokey when you start smiling and you

smile into everything you start noticing

how much more clear your mind is you

start noticing how much faster you can

notice your mind getting grabbing onto

something and becoming tight and then

when you laugh at that it's easy to let

it go I've had students that the when

it's easy it's easy and when it's hard

it's hard they get in some kind of

emotional thing and I come along as they

laugh at that I can't laugh at that I'm

serious the whole thing is what the

Buddha taught us is how to be happy

what's the best way to practice being

happy smiling and laughing then you

start having joy come up in your mind

joy is one of the Enlightenment factors

joy is a very necessary part of the

practice because when you don't have joy

in your mind your mind gets very heavy

and gets tight when you can laugh at

being caught by your

sadness depression anxiety restlessness

anger whatever when you can laugh at

that all of a sudden you're going from

I'm mad and I don't like it - oh it's

only this anger

what does laughter do it changes your

perspective it changes your perspective

from the heavy I'm that and I don't like

it

- it's only that that's easy to let go

what do I need this anger for what do I

need this upset for so that the real

skill of learning meditation is being

able to learn how your mind's attention

moves from one thing to another but

seeing that all the time it's not just

while you're sitting we have these

things that are called hindrances

hindrances will stop you from being

clear hindrances are where your

attachments are what are the hindrances

lust

I want my hatred I don't want mine

sleepiness dullness restlessness anxiety

doubt whenever these arise they will

stop you from being aware they'll stop

you from being clear and you start

identifying with it and you make

yourself miserable by wallowing around

it

the biggest hindrance is restlessness

what is restlessness all your wandering

thoughts all your thoughts that pull you

away and you kind of pull a home around

thinking about this and thinking about

that not really paying attention to what

you're doing do you ever have that

happen while you're studying so what do

you do with that restlessness is called

a distracted mind and Buddhism how do

you let go of a distracted mind you let

go of a distracted mind one by not

moving your body at all when

restlessness arises it is a an

unpleasant feeling and you feel like

you've got to do 20 things and you've

only got 10 minutes to do it that's the

feeling of restlessness you do this oh I

forgot I got to do that and you do that

and oh I didn't finish this you know

what I mean when your mind is doing that

what you need to do is sit down for a

few minutes and collect your mind let go

of that feeling allow that feeling to be

there but don't take it personally

let it be there and relax into it after

four or five minutes then all of a

sudden you become efficient at what

you're doing you do this finish you do

that finish you don't have to worry

about coming back and finishing this or

that that's how you'd let go of the

restlessness

now the hindrances when they arise

they don't come one at a time they kind

of like to gang up on you it's kind of

like getting kicked when you're down the

restlessness arises I don't like that

feeling and then you start thinking

about the feeling now remember I told

you thoughts are one thing feelings are

something else

you can't think appealing it doesn't

work you have to let go of the thoughts

and allow the space for the feeling to

be there why because it's the truth when

a feeling arises it's there anytime you

try to fight with the truth or make it

different than what it is that will

cause you more and more mental upset and

physical pain people in the hospital

they have these big pains I've walked

into rooms where they're moaning and

groaning really loudly because the pain

is so intense what do I do the first

thing is I tell them to start relaxing

take it easy

let go of those thoughts the pain is

there it's okay for it to be there by

the time I would leave they're laughing

and smiling

what is laughing and smiling do for a

sick person in pain a lot it lets the

endorphins flow the endorphins are your

painkiller start feeling better the more

we can be aware of what our mind is

doing in the present moment and we

choose to have an uplifted mind a happy

mind a smiling mine

the more we affect the world around us

in a positive way what's happening right

now in this country a lot of fear a lot

of greed a lot of dissatisfaction that's

what the government wants you to get

involved with how many people here have

a television and watch it

you know the biggest favor you could do

for yourself is go buy a nice sized

brick

I've had students that they read four or

five newspapers in the day what in the

world are you doing that for well I have

to know what's happening in the world I

know what's happening in the world

I don't read any newspapers I don't

watch any television anything that's

really important somebody will tell me

about it except I was in Burma and I was

doing a silent meditation retreat and I

did it for two years in 1990 when I came

out of my raid tree I found out I was a

history major I found out that one of

the most fantastic historical events

happened and I didn't know about it

Russia fell and I didn't hear a thing

about it because I wasn't talking to

anybody and I started getting real

bummed out about that I started thinking

wow and I missed that how could I miss

something like that and then I started

thinking well how has that changed my

life now and I started looking and it's

the same now as it was before no big

deal

it's all depends on what we feed our

mind and literally I mean feet when you

have restlessness and you try to control

the restlessness with your thoughts

you're feeding that restlessness and it

gets bigger and more intense

what were the instructions and the

meditation when you have a thought arise

and you see that you let the thought be

there by itself relax and come back to

your meditation now everybody has these

little pink brochures these are a

mnemonic system that will help you

remember how to meditate you recognize

that your mind is distracted you release

that distraction you relax you read

smile smiling is an important part of

meditation and you know it's sad but

nobody teaches that but me it's really

weird

I've been I've done many many retreats

I've been practicing meditation for 35

years I was for the first 20 years under

the very strong impression that

meditation was supposed to be serious

and you aren't supposed to smile and you

aren't supposed to be happy and if you

get any joy arising don't be attached

you've heard that before you well I'm

here to tell you that joy is an

Enlightenment factor and it's good to

experience it and don't be attached how

do you not be attached to drive Joy's of

happy feeling pain is an unhappy feeling

you treat them both in the same way you

allow them to be there relax and come

back to

object of meditation but the thing with

the hindrances is that when they arise

we always take them personally this is

me this is my sadness and every time we

get involved in taking a hindrance

personally all of a sudden this little

trouble starts to turn into Mount

Everest and there's no way around this I

can't think this problem away you can't

go around it you can't go over it can't

go under it when you develop your sense

of humor about yourself and you laugh

with yourself for getting caught again

then that huge mountain of problem in

front of you you find it's only a little

bump in the road now what's the

difference the difference is when you

laugh it changes your perspective when

you laugh at yourself for being caught

again slow learner

then you're not caught anymore then this

huge problem that doesn't have any

resolution at all nothing what made it

such a big problem because I took it

personally and I tried to think this

feeling away and the more I tried to

think about it the more I worried about

it the more anxious I became about it

the bigger and more intense it became

what to do change your perspective learn

how to have an uplifted mind and use

that uplifted mind as much as you

possibly can now this is the same with a

dull mind you ever have those days you

go into a class and you feel like going

to sleep well that's dullness didn't

dullness and in buddhism is described

this way it's like butter that's been in

the refrigerator and it's gotten really

cold and you have a fresh piece of bread

out of the oven and you try to spread

that to cold butter on on the bread just

doesn't spread

that's what dullness is that's what

sleepy and mine is now the odd thing is

the way to let go of the sleepiness is

by relaxing and Buddhism they call

sleepy minor dolma and they call it a

contracted light it gets real tense and

tight

when you let go of that tension and

tightness and take more interest in what

you were doing in the present moment

that sleepiness and tightness will fade

away interest is a real important aspect

of the meditation and so is having fun

if you have fun learning something you

get interested in and you don't want to

stop so what to do start having fun when

your study have fun while you're in

class take an interest in what you're

doing while you're doing everything

becomes easier when you do that see the

whole thing is what the Buddha taught us

was how to have an uplifted mind why do

you want an uplifted mind because great

things happen for people that are happy

all kinds of magical things happen when

you have an uplifted mind now I meditate

in a very very Bible Belt place in

Missouri and this lady came and she

wanted to know about meditation so I

taught her and she started getting so

happy that good thing started happening

for and she got suspicious and she came

to me and she said are you teaching me

magic

and I said well in the way I'm teaching

you the magic of having a happy mind

scared er you want good things to happen

to you you want to meet real interesting

people you want to have fun projects to

do be happy smile and laugh the first 20

years of my meditation I did buy a

mermaid-style meditation I develop very

deep lines in my face when I was

meditating I was crying I didn't have

what you would call an uplifted mind I

had an alert money but it wasn't real

uplifted and it took 20 years to learn

how to do this it's difficult I did a

lot of meditation somebody asked me one

time how much meditation I did and I

started thinking and I went well I don't

count

only one month retreats or less they're

just walk in the park I've done 12 14

three months retreats I did an eight

month retreat I did a two-year retreat

real intense

I have done a fair amount of meditation

but I went to the end of the meditations

that I was taught and I wasn't satisfied

with it so I started going to the

original teaching of the Buddha started

going to the circus and I started

noticing some very interesting things

one the Buddha was teaching us how to be

happy I never got that message in 20

years nobody ever told me that it's okay

to laugh and be happy I was supposed to

be serious all the time

that's meditation and serious stuff well

it's right you want to be serious meat

seriously happy do you see how your mind

feels when you start smiling and you

start laughing your mind feels pretty

okay practice that all the time it

doesn't matter what you're doing you're

watching your the dishes smile on be

happy that way you can notice when your

mind gets distracted and starts to get

pulled down now what happens when your

mind gets on something and starts

thinking about something is that your

mind will jump from thinking about this

to thinking about that and before long

you're a thousand miles away thinking

thinking thinking and they're just

little thoughts that don't really matter

at all but that's the nature of mind to

do that when you start smiling when you

start laughing what you start noticing

is your mind doing that

go very easily and smile into that and

come back to what you're doing while

you're doing it and be happy with that

when you have restlessness arise while

you're your study you got a test coming

up you have a lot of anxiety you have

this pressure because you want to do

well on the test all of a sudden your

mind is thinking about oh god I better

do good on this I really need a good

grade every thought about that is

pulling you away from what you're

studying and before long you'll have

that thought of worry and anxiety that

is that's really me that's mine that's

my problem

and then you'll think about this and

you'll think about that and you'll think

about that and before long you have to

go back and read the same sentence over

again

because you weren't paying attention to

it when you practice meditation in the

right way you see that your mind is

distracted you smile into that

distraction and let it go and come back

to what you're doing while you're doing

it all of the sudden you become more

efficient with what you're doing while

you're doing you become really efficient

you absorb what you're studying

really

does meditation help in real life you

bet it's about real life it's about

living in a way that you can have an

uplifted mind all the time too many

times people practice meditation so they

can be calm while they're sitting in

meditation and then they get up from the

meditation and forget everything they

learn and go out and live their life in

whatever way they're going to live it

but what I'm suggesting to you is you

have to take your meditation with you

and use it all the time watch what your

mind is doing in whatever situation it

is we had a real interesting thing

happen as we were coming from the East

Coast out here we stopped it uh had a

place to get something to drink got

something to drink

started walking up and looked at the

side of the vehicle it's all bashed in

on one side I said look at that and kamo

was there quema used to be a highly

emotional person he would fall apart

like you can't believe

and she would be crying and yelling and

that it had to go on for hours before I

started working with it but we both

stopped and looked and when hmm isn't

that something somebody just they got

too close and when they pulled out they

just scraped the whole side of the truck

bashed it in so we got under the truck

and looked to see if there was anything

that was really bad with it no we can

drive okay let's go didn't think about

it after that didn't talk about it after

that that's what happened in the present

moment

it was there yep that's the problem have

to solve it sometime in the future don't

worry about it now and continue and be

happy any time you see that you have

repeat thoughts repeat thoughts are an

attachment

you walk in the class and one of the

students looks at you and they're mad at

you and they come up and they give you

heck what do you do when that happens

you get mad you take their anger you

make it your anger and you throw your

anger back at them and now you're saying

things at the same time and you really

tell that so-and-so off and they're

telling you off at the same time so you

don't hear what they said and they don't

hear what you said and then they walk

away what happens in your mind just like

it's on a tape deck doesn't it

they said this and I said that oh I

should have said this job and I'm right

and they're wrong and then the tape deck

it happens again it happens again and

you happen to have ok classes over you

go to the car and you're thinking about

that so and so are you really driving

I do think accidents happen I didn't see

it that part has popped up right in

front of me I didn't see them course you

didn't see him why because we were

thinking about what happened way back

when that could be the other way around

to where instead of getting angry at

them you take it on yourself you don't

really stop well what I'm talking about

is the repeat thoughts right and how the

repeat cut the repeat thoughts are

showing you that you're taking a feeling

making it you're feeling

personally and then you try to control

the feeling with your thoughts then you

go home and you say anybody around

leave me alone I've had a bad day and

you go to sleep and you toss and you

turn and you don't get real good rest

and you get up in the morning and you're

groggy and you bump into things and

takes a long time to wake up this can go

on for days

just from what happened one small

incident that happened way back then so

what to do recognize what your mind is

doing and how to take care of that

problem now if you were practicing true

compassion somebody comes up and they

get angry at you and you see that

they're suffering you see their faces

all red and their face their expression

is really ugly and they're shaking

because they're so mad you know what

that feels like because you've done it

too

so instead of paying attention to what

they're saying and taking their anger

and making it yours and throwing it back

at them you start sending loving and

kind thoughts to them it takes two to

tango takes two to fight there's only

one fight the fight lessens and that

person will either calm down and you can

find out what the real problem is

because it's not what they're talking

about or they'll go oh it either way

your mind stays uplifted and happy and

you're ready for whatever happens next

see when you take somebody else's anger

and make it your anger they go away what

do you do with the next person you see

are you happy in shining and smiling to

them no and you start treating other

people through that anger and it wasn't

even yours to start with

that's a hindrance isn't it and it's a

hindrance because you're identifying

with those thoughts and with those

feelings personally and isn't it funny

I mean honestly isn't it funny stupid

minded that's taking all this stuff

personally you laugh and all of a sudden

it's not my anger anymore it's only this

anger do I want to carry this around and

give it to other people right now not

really

let it go see that that craving that I

was talking about earlier that I like it

I don't like it mine it always arises

with every distraction

always if you don't recognize that

tension and tightness then there's going

to be a lot of thoughts and opinions and

concepts and ideas coming up and these

things happen very quickly and they

happen over and over again until you're

aware of what you're doing with your

mind in the present moment I'm going to

let go of that the whole point of

learning how to smile and laugh into

things and so you can see how you cause

your own pain there's nobody out there

that causes your pain you cause the pain

to yourself and what is that pain taking

it personally grabbing on to it and

saying this is who I am when in fact

it's part of an impersonal process

so let go of the I am and then you start

letting go of the pain the more you

practice smiling the easier it gets to

have an uplifted mind and it doesn't

matter I don't care whether you say if I

walk around smiling it's not going to be

genuine I don't care smile anyway why

psychological testing they said your

mind doesn't know when you're smiling

whether it's real or not and when your

mind sees that you're smiling that says

well I'm supposed to be happy enough the

more you smile and practice smiling the

more clear your mind becomes there's

real advantages to practicing this as

much as you can the Buddha talked about

it in real practical ways he said when

you practice sending love and smiling

you'll go to sleep really easily I

practice a lot I have to admit I'm

Anette that's okay if you fanatic with

something but when it gets time for me

to go to sleep I toss and turn for a

good five six seconds before I go to

sleep and when I go to sleep I sleep

very soundly that's another advantage of

doing this when I wake up my mind is

alert it's awake there's not this groggy

grumble grumble grumble grumble bumping

into things where's my coffee I need my

coffee in the morning my mind is alert

this is another advantage of doing this

your dreams become very pleasant and at

first you can have some real strange

dreams but when you radiate

loving-kindness into your dreams they

change and become very pleasant animals

like you

there's been a lot of instances where

I've been around animals that they're

like attack dogs I walk up to them and

pet them and the owner is going how did

you do that I don't know I like them so

they like me people like don't you like

like to be around people that are

smiling and happy how many people like

to be around somebody that's grumpy and

angry all the time

see so practice it another advantage is

that your face becomes beautiful when

you smile I used to give out mirrors to

people and carry in their pocket that

smile on it this one lady in Washington

DC she she's very beautiful when she

smiled and she told me if she got in a

fight with her boyfriend and I said did

you pull out the mirror and take a look

at your face then she said oh no I

wouldn't do that I said why are you

afraid of cracking it but people that

get into their anger their face can get

even black and they're not pleasant to

be around so why do you want to give

that kind of energy to other people the

more you practice smiling the more you

practice laughing in your everyday life

the clearer your awareness of what's

happening in the present moment becomes

now there's a lot of people that really

like to get into their intuition how do

you get

in tuition you smile and let that smile

come into your mind and then let

everything go your intuition will start

talking to you

it's a quiet little voice but a lot of

people don't hear their intuition

because they're so thinking about so

much other's stuff that they ignore it

when it comes up they don't recognize

your intuition is something that it's

always right I've never seen intuition

wrong how do you get into your intuition

not from a thought in mind as you

practice smiling more and more your mind

becomes more at ease you have more joy

arising in your life when you have joy

arising you have a mind that's really

alert and it's very quick at recognizing

things but this is something again that

you don't just do while you're sitting

in meditation this is something that you

have to carry with you all the time it's

kind of fun

having fun and practicing meditation how

many people have heard that those two

things in the same sentence therefore

it's okay to have fun it's okay to smile

it's okay to be peaceful and calm with

yourself now one of the things that an

awful lot of people get cockpit is we

think that we're supposed to be perfect

with everything that we do and we don't

meet our own expectations

who doesn't love themselves then who is

hard on themselves then who isn't

practicing smiling and being happy then

you have to forgive yourself you're not

going to be perfect I've never met

anybody that is so why criticize

yourself why be hard on yourself learn

from your mistakes

that's what mistakes are for they come

up so you can learn from so you don't do

that again

but you don't have to come down on

yourself because of it see the coming

down on yourself is another form of a

hindrance it's another form of the

shoulds I should be better than I am I

should I

hindrances are very important to have

because when a hindrance arises it is

showing you where your attachment is and

if you want to have a clear mind you let

go of that hindrance and relax every

time it comes up as you do this over and

over again that entrance becomes weaker

and weaker until finally it fades away

when it fades away you will feel a

definite relief it's like somebody takes

the rocks off your shoulders strong

really feeling and right after that you

will experience very strong joy the kind

of joy I'm talking about is only

experienced through mental development

everybody in life experiences joy in one

way or another but this kind of joy it

has a lot of excitement in it and it

really feels good why because you've let

go of an attachment you've let go of a

hindrance

now the joy is going to be there for a

little while and then it will fade away

naturally when it does your mind will

become very very tranquil and calm

you'll feel more comfortable in your

mind and in your body than you've ever

felt before

very much at peace

this is what the Buddha called happiness

your mind stays on your object of

meditation without any effort there

could still be some distracting thoughts

or eyes but you see them really quickly

and let go of them very easily and come

back now what I just described to you is

the first stage of the meditation and in

Pali they call it a jhana

Johnna is the first level of your

understanding how this process actually

works I know that there's a lot of other

traditions that use the word jhana

as some kind of a kind of experience

with this kind of meditation that I'm

showing you it's a very natural

experience when I give a retreat

sometimes they give a one-week retreat

sometimes they give it two week retreat

if people haven't experienced this

feeling by the second or third day I

start questioning them very heavily what

are you doing with your mind this is not

a difficult stage to get into and your

understanding becomes deeper and deeper

as you go through other experiences of

the meditation that's what I spend my

time doing teaching that sort of thing

to be

now when I was in Asia I was told that

when I was in Thailand they told me that

if I wanted to get into a jhana it was

going to take me about 15 years of

practice and I'm talking about your

being able to experience that jhana in

one or two days I had one student that

in the first day that she ever meditated

she never did any meditation before she

got into the first jhana why do these

sort of things happen for this lady in

particular there are these things in

Buddhism that are called hindrances and

there are these things in Buddhism

called precepts there's five precepts

that you need to keep it's a suggestion

this is not a commandment coming from

anybody but it leads to a happy life and

it leads to a calm mind

don't kill or harm living beings on

purpose don't take anything that's not

given don't have any wrong sexual

activity I'll talk about that in a

minute don't lie don't curse and that's

one of the things that's happening a lot

these days you hear it on the radio I

mean shocking to listen to the radio

because they're cursing something

they're using speech that's really

offensive

don't use speech that's offensive for

any reason don't slander anyone and that

means divide one group from another and

don't gossip what is gossip it's making

up stories about somebody else if you

don't

whether it's true or not don't take any

drugs or alcohol these Five Precepts

are reasonably easy to follow and if you

keep them when you do your meditation

your mind will become very calm very

quickly now the precept on wrong sexual

activity the Buddhist that wrong sexual

activity means no sexual activity with

someone that's too young in other words

they're under the care of their parents

or guardians no sexual activity with

another person's mate no sexual activity

with prostitutes outside of that it's up

to you

why do you have this precept because

when you break this precept you're

causing problems not only for yourself

but for other people too basically the

sexual precept goes like this anytime

you have any sexual activity if it

causes pain to you or anyone else that

doesn't only mean the person you're

having the sexual activity with but any

of their relatives or any of their

friends or whatever then don't do that

don't have sexual activity that's gonna

cause problems

so keeping these five precepts is

reasonably easy you've only got five

I have 227 there's a lot of things that

I can't do

now the taking drugs and alcohol doesn't

mean taking medicine it means taking

drugs or alcohol to take the edge off to

quote have fun why do you do this and

take this precept because you have the

very real problem of breaking the other

precepts when you break this precept and

it dulls your mind up amazing when I

give retreat to people I can tell some

but when somebody has been doing a lot

of pot and they might have quit for a

year after the second day I looked at

him and say how long ago did you stop

smoking pot how did you know that your

mind self dull

keep your mind sharp keep your mind

alert don't dull it out with drugs and

alcohol in the name of fun you want to

have fun smile and be happy okay

now any time you break a precept you can

look forward to an end rinse arising

that's the way it works when you break a

precept your mind will tell you right

then in there you should have done that

we'll forget it this time let me go on

then you sit in meditation and your mind

is super active and troublesome and

there's all this anger and all this fear

and all this anxiety coming up why does

it come up because of breaking precepts

and it might be from this lifetime or it

might be from a past lifetime yes there

are past lifetime I can show you them

so the whole thing is learning how mind

works learning the way to improve the

world around you you like being around

people that don't break precepts because

you could trust them you know that

they're not going to lie to you they're

going to tell you the truth or they'll

be quiet which is another way of saying

true

as you start affecting the world around

you in a positive way the world starts

responding to you in a positive way

somebody from the BBC right after this

problems that they had in Burma in

December they called me up and asked me

what my opinion of what was happening

what do you think the Burmese people

should do

I said not be angry they need to sit

down and start sending loving and kind

thoughts to themselves and loving and

kind thoughts to everyone else around

them now they've been practicing

Buddhism for years and years and years

but they forget every now and then

because the current situation is such

that they're being bossed around by a

very few number of people and they don't

like it so they're getting into their

dislike of the present moment in

studying instead of learning to lovingly

accept and radiate loving-kindness so

they're perpetuating the problem because

they're into their dislike

they need to start uplifting their mind

and when they uplift their mind the

world around them will change and that's

what I told the BBC and as I understand

it they put that all over Europe this is

how we handle our problems not by aiding

the government not by indulging in what

the government wants us to think about

but by practicing or smiling practicing

or laughing okay I've been talking for a

long time now does anybody have any

questions comments statements anything

oh my pleasure it really is

wife is it difficult why can't we just

be like

like all these habits are hard to let go

of that's why we we start our life with

liking and disliking things from mom and

dad and then it kind of expands over

time and we get very judgmental and we

have a lot of concepts that don't

necessarily meet with reality we want

things to be the way we want them to be

when we want them to be that way and

when they aren't then what happens we

start suffering a lot

we have been doing this from time

immemorial because there are lots of

times when a Buddha's teaching isn't

available for a lot of people so they go

on with their old habit of thinking and

doing things the way they've always done

them it takes a lot of effort to have an

uplifted mind it's easy it still takes a

lot of effort and when it when it's hard

it's kind of comical for me because I

walk up to somebody and I say what are

you so sad about be happy boy I get a

lot of comments I can't be happy now

this is happening to me but how does

your mind feel when you do that one guy

that was he had cancer he was very close

to death his body was just kind of

melting away

and I walked into his room one day and

he said everybody out of the room I just

want to talk to her ever okay what do we

got going here and very seriously he

said the doctor told me that I need to

make out my will because I'm terminal

and I started to laugh so am I everybody

is it's okay to be terminal and he

started laughing and he went oh thanks I

needed that I told him he was lucky he

has a more guys more clear idea when

it's going to happen than we do so be

happy to send other people well wish

them well he did die and I had I got

went to Thailand to give a retreat to a

bunch of people and when I came back the

day before I came back he died and the

people that were with him said that he

died smiling okay that's a good death he

learned a lot in this lifetime to be

able to do that he wasn't afraid of it

and he was sending loving and kind

thoughts to other people so his rebirth

if you believe in that sort of thing is

very pleasant the Hindus and the

Buddhists both believe that your last

thoughts before you die are very

important and if your thoughts are

uplifting and happy then you'll be

reborn in a higher realm and if they're

not then you won't be

so it's a real special time to be around

people that are dying and reminding them

you remember when you were so kind and

when you are so helpful and when when

you meet other people smile and laugh

you get them to remember those kind of

things and get them to talk about those

kind of things if they have enough

energy to talk or just reflect on it

it's okay

then when they die they'll have an

uplift at night

you've helped that person a lot one of

the things that the Buddha taught was

how to die

and he wants you to die completely

totally from this moment and be reborn

the net

as you can accept death you can accept

life

if you accept death totally you will

accept life completely

as you practice smiling and laughing you

are learning how to accept everything

that arises as just another thing it's

gonna be there for a little while it's

gonna disappear and that's the way life

is and it's okay it's all a matter of

perspective the more you practice

smiling and being happy and uplifted the

more friendly you're going to be to

other people the more you're going to

help other people how do you do in a

traffic jam these days what do you do

with your mind while you're in the

traffic jam you're smiling and happy why

do you know what everybody else's mind

is like their minds just like yours late

you can get into your worry and anxiety

in this lack or not it's your choice you

are responsible for making yourself

happy and you are responsible for making

yourself sad what do you want to do you

want to be happy you want to be said

it's a conscious decision there's nobody

out here that's causing you problems you

cause your own problems and you manifest

these problems how do you manifest these

problems by your imagery you image that

you're always broke you're always going

to be broke

you image that you're always sad you're

always going to be sad

what kind of image do you hold for

yourself not what I want but what kind

of image

are you keeping about yourself or about

other people

oh every time I see these people they've

always got problems with them yeah

you're right you're going to keep having

those problems as long as you're the

image that way you image about physical

problems and how they're always causing

you problems yeah you're right because

you're imaging that see part of the

healing is teaching other people how to

image a healthy happy body and a healthy

happy mine

what's the best way to teach other

people by example it's that simple

nothing is that simple sure it is the

Buddha was actually brilliant at showing

us the simplest ways to do things but we

like to make everything so complicated

and so intricate that we lose what he's

seen you smile you be happy simple

try it all the time simple easy no it's

not it's hard what kind of an image are

you holding of yourself see how its

interconnected everything is intertwined

your mind and your body are

interconnected and there's a connection

with everybody around you how do you

want to affect them your trucks

hold the image of being happy and smile

and be happy then the other people

around you will start doing the same

thing then they'll start looking for

causes why am I so happy now

okay yeah well you know today one of the

biggest problems you're probably going

to face is that three out of every four

three out of every four people in the

industrialized nations right now are

taking some kind of drug for depression

so can you talk to them a little bit

about the handling and depression

through the use of meditation depression

is easy to let go of it's not a big deal

at all

what is depression a painful feeling

arises I don't like that painful feeling

I have thoughts about that painful

feeling and my habit is every time this

feeling arises I always attack it that

way the more you think about the feeling

the bigger and more intense the feeling

becomes until finally you say oh I just

can't stand this I gotta go to the

doctor and get some drugs and he gives

you something that knocks you out so you

can't even act like a real person

anymore

as you start recognizing the importance

of smiling into things and laughing the

laughter stops the thinking about now

your perspective is different

it doesn't take very long to overcome

depression it takes a while because you

have to practice your smiley and these

thoughts because of this painful feeling

they they're quite often very similar

coming up over and over and over again

you have repeat thoughts quite often

with depression I hate this feeling when

it's there I wish it would stop I want

it to go away

III who's the who's feeling is it did

you say you know I haven't been

depressed this week I think it's time

for me to do it

I'm gonna get depressed nobody is stupid

enough to do that so what you do is

recognize that your mind is trying to

control a feeling let go of the thoughts

and relax see that tight mental fist

that's a painful feeling yeah it's a

painful feeling that's the truth and

it's okay for that painful feeling to be

there it has to be it's the truth

allow the truth to be there it's only a

feeling I told you a little while ago I

used to walk through the forest barefoot

and at night and I kick a rock and then

break the toe that's painful and as soon

as it happened there was the shock there

was the pain there was the dislike right

on top of that and right after that I

started noticing that I was throwing my

my hatred into my toe and my toe is

crying out saying don't hate me love me

that's what I want right now so instead

of getting into my anger for doing it I

start sending love into that spot and

before long pain pretty much goes away I

might limp around for a little bit and

in a day or two days I forget that I

even did it it's nothing it doesn't

matter whether it's physical pain or

mental pain it all happens in the same

way painful feeling arises what you do

with what rises in the present moment

dictates what happens in the future you

see that painful feeling that tightness

that happens around that painful feeling

and then all of the thoughts about that

painful feeling and your habitual

tendency and I always treat this feeling

in the same way well after a few years

you should start learning that that

don't work don't do that

so what to do different well let go of

the thoughts and relax allow the space

for that painful feeling to be there

when I when I broke the toe it was real

it was pain and it was there and it was

okay for it to be there it had to be

okay because it was a truth allow the

space for the truth to be there without

trying to control it another example I

have a silver tooth I was in Burma

Dennis decided he was going to do me a

favor clean my teeth and he broke it and

then he says I am going to give you a

root canal and I said fine but you don't

clean your needles I don't want any AIDS

so give me a root canal I don't want any

painkiller he did it he gave me a root

canal I was sitting in the chair and my

hands would get real white and all of my

muscles would tense up and I'd look at

that and I'd say oh look at that

I saw the tension in my back the tension

in my buttocks relax allow the space for

that sensation to be there and I even

had

time to send the person causing me the

pain loving and kind thoughts and after

hours of his drilling which was only

about 15 minutes he stopped and he

started doing the other things that he

had to do to my tooth and I started

noticing that my mind was bright my mind

was alert my mind was very happy not

because the pain had stopped but my mind

was very happy because it was so clear

and in the present moment now that was

real pain and I've since come to this

country and had to have another root

canal and I did the same thing I don't

like drugs

so the whole thing comes down to is it

my pain or is it just in pain if it's my

pain I can't allow them to do that if

it's just a pain it's okay there's no

emergency in it

there's no tightening around it there's

no want to control it

there's only allowing the space for that

sensation to be there because it's the

truth

it's there you do that with depression

that feeling is there so it's a feeling

okay not my feeling I didn't ask it to

come up allow the space for that feeling

to be there relax into it direct your

mind to something wholesome smiley now

when the Buddha was teaching the

Eightfold Path one of the factors of the

whole path was called right effort I

call it harmonious practice there's four

parts to right effort noticing when your

mind is unwholesome has an unwholesome

thought recognized

letting go of that unwholesome thought

releasing and relaxing bringing up a

wholesome thought read smiling return

into your meditation keeping that

wholesome thought going staying with

your meditation as much as you can

that's what that's little pink pen that

is that's what it says when you're

practicing this it is practicing right

effort oh I have some students that have

been practicing with me for a long time

more than 30 years and they finally

started understanding that this these

four little things that are that's six

in your in your pink pants lip

it really works and they were surprised

of course I've been talking about this

for years

but they finally heard it that pink

pamphlet is exactly how to do the

meditation and that will lead you to all

kinds of understanding and all kinds of

insights that you never dreamed possible

the hindrances when they arise are your

teachers there showing you where your

attachments are and they're showing you

how strong your attachments are and when

you practice the six hours you can let

go of that the Buddha taught Four Noble

Truths he said there is suffering in

life we don't need to be taught that

everybody knows that one there's a cause

of suffering what's the cause of

suffering the cause of suffering is

breathing the tension and tightness

relax when you relax you're experiencing

the third noble truth

that's the cessation of the suffering

the cessation of the craving the way

leading to the cessation of the

suffering Eightfold Path when you

practice the Eightfold Path you're

practicing the six art

it's all interconnected everytime you

smile you're practicing the full path

every time you laugh - practicing the

full path every time you notice that

there's a headache starting to happen

and you relax all of the muscles you're

letting go of that suffering you're

practicing the full path it all works

keeping an uplifted mind practice that

uplifted mind keep smiling notice what

your mind is doing in the present moment

mindfulness is a word that's used very

often and it's connected with Buddhism

and a lot of people when you talk about

mindfulness they'll say you say who's

that mean well it means being mindful

you can't use the word they're trying to

define in the definition mindfulness is

remembering to observe how meiyan's

attention moves from one thing to

another it's remembering to observe

when you're smiling are you practicing

your mindfulness you bet it's getting

stronger the more you smile and laugh

into things are you strengthening your

mindfulness yes not just a little bit

the trick is to remember to do it as

much as you possibly can that's the

trick so what's your drop smile be happy

have fun are you practicing what the

Buddha taught you bet keep it going it's

that easy it's that simple

you'd be surprised how many people come

up during a retreat and tell me it can't

be that simple that can and it is but

simple and hard to do aren't necessarily

the same thing so is there anybody that

has a question now what a great teacher

yeah my dreams when I have them there

there's two two categories one of them

is prophetic and the other is very light

I have dreams of being in front of

people and radiating loving-kindness to

them I have dreams of being in lark with

large Aarti audiences and saying things

that make them happy those are the kind

of dreams today

don't dream very often when I go to

sleep but just it's interesting the

subject of dreams to know because like

face to have dreams that would be real

disturbing and stuff and I'd go and say

well what am I supposed to do with this

you know and practicing new meta you can

take whoever's coming after you or

whatever is not right you can put the

meta into the dream and change the whole

dream or you can take if there's some

little devil chase and you put him

inside a capsule and then send him as

much loving-kindness as possible and

just watch and try to get out you know

and little things like that and you can

actually start and do things while

you're sleeping it's real interesting

think okay medic medically speaking it's

really interesting that you know

medicine looks at it and says that

everything happens from stress and the

stress relationship to medical disorders

both physical and mental okay if you go

back from a stress disorder which is a

diagnosis in a hospital you go back to

the seat of that you get to the tension

and tightness and then if you look at

the definition of what he said craving

was its tension and tightness and mind

and body and if you look at the

instruction you're retraining the body

to instead of grabbing every time into

releasing so what you're doing is you're

freeing the mind of disturbing factors

but you're also freeing the body from a

lot of things that are happening that's

what we do and the more uplifted your

mind becomes the more it changes your

chemical balance or in those it changes

things that are happening with your

hormones

there's there are so many different

things that happen with doing this kind

of meditation that it's it's surprising

that it's not more popular than it is

but I'm kind of reinvent her because I

practice meditation so much the other

way the one pointed way and when I found

out what the Buddha was actually

teaching and he added this extra step I

started doing it and it just blew my

mind how how much deeper now I had 20

years of practice

I was said to be very very advanced with

this one pointed concentration and when

I started practicing with this extra

step of relaxing all of the sudden I was

going deeper than I've ever gone before

I mean it was amazing it was it was

shocking how much better my meditation

had become now what's the difference

between one pointed concentration and

what I'm showing you one pointed

concentration your mind is on your

object of meditation there's a

distraction you let go of the

distraction immediately come back to

your object of meditation okay know when

you're practicing what I'm showing you

your mind is on your object of

meditation the same there's a

distraction you let go of it the same

now you add this one step of relax the

tension and tightness what are you doing

when you relax the tension and tightness

you're letting go

of the crazy now you have a pure mind

that you're bringing back to your object

of meditation that one extra step

changes everything and it doesn't change

it a little bit it changes it a lot

really changes the ability for you to be

it changes your awareness what your mind

is doing in the present moment when you

practice one point in concentration your

mind does this and stays on one thing

when you practice what I'm teaching your

mind does this so you can see things way

far away that are starting to arrive and

eventually you start letting go of all

of those kinds of things and you get to

a quiet mind but it's very alert it's

not absorbed into anything its alert

it's awake and that's what nirvana is

the experience of Nirvana that the

Buddha had he called it awaken from the

dream he'd practiced all kinds of

meditation before that he'd practiced

one pointed concentration as far as

anybody could take it he was a very very

advanced meditator but he wasn't

satisfied with it he saw that there's

still other things that were there and

the other thing that he saw was craving

he saw that there was this tension and

tightness still there in his mind so he

came up with adding this extra step so

it's not there anymore

and as you do that your mind becomes

much more alert and you're able to take

the practice of sitting

meditation into your life into everyday

things

now when you practice one pointed

concentration you'll get to a certain

place where the force of the

concentration pushes down the hindrances

so they don't arise but the hindrances

are where your attachments are your

hindrances are the thing that keeps you

where your attachments aren't how strong

they are so when the Buddha saw this and

he added that extra step of relaxing he

said ah now the hindrances can come up

and I can actually start letting go of

these attachments and look at how much

more clear mind is when you start

letting go of the attachment the people

that practice one pointed concentration

they say well my mind is so peaceful in

the column while I'm sitting but they go

out into life and they're not any better

person because of the doing the

meditation and you need to be a better

person that's what the whole point of

the meditation is learning how to be a

better person by letting go of your

attachments

so I should get off with so Christ

so when before we leave I want to share

merit with everyone in suffering ones be

suffering free and the fear struck

fearless be the grieving shed all grief

that may all beings find really may all

being shared this merit that we have

thus acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting

space in their Davis and Nagas of mighty

power share this merit of ours may they

long protect the Buddha's dispensation